How to be a Mermaid (The Cotton Candy Quintet #1)(43)

He opened the barred door, gesturing to me. “You’re free to go.”

I blinked and let out a breath. I didn’t think that would happen so easily. Surely I’d be raked across the coals by Mr. Stevens. Or worse, my mother.

I followed the officer out in the station, hanging my head. Imagine my surprise when I saw Neptune standing there. He’d dressed up a little bit more than usual for the occasion.

“Well, well,” he said, in a mock-gloating tone, a big grin on his face. “If it isn’t Tara the trespasser. You’re lucky, you know.”

“Thanks,” I said, turning red.

“Apparently, ‘trespassing’ like you did is a Class C Misdemeanor. And Mr. Stevens ain’t none too happy about that.”

“What does that mean?”

He chuckled. “You’re just off with a ticket and a $500 fine, unless you want to go to court and contest it. I already paid it for you though. You actually weren’t even supposed to be arrested,” he added, lowering his voice. The officer with me must have heard though, because he scowled even deeper.

Hope blossomed within my chest. “You mean...?”

He grinned at me. “Everything is going to be fine, although I suggest we get out of Houston as soon as possible before something else happens and Michael tries to do something stupid.”

“Sorry about getting you kicked out of the Houston Aquarium,” I said sheepishly. I doubted that the mermaids of the Neptune Aquarium would ever be called back.

“Eh, it’s fine,” Neptune sighed. “It’s not ideal, but it’s fine. Let’s get going, eh, Tara?”

I nodded in relief.

“On one condition,” Neptune said, looking at me seriously. “You tell me what you know about these mermaids.”

I bit my lip, worried about how much I should divulge to him. He did save my butt, I just didn’t know how much information was too much. What if he threw me into the looney bin after I talked about it? It was pretty fantastical.

“Let me call my mom first,” I said. “I’m sure she’s freaking out.”

***

Of course, Mom was pissed.

Neptune was driving back to the hotel, which was a good thing because I felt shaky after being reamed by my mother. She had practically reached through the cell phone and throttled me. She demanded that I get on the next plane back to Jacksonville. I might be legally considered an adult, but she was going to take charge and ground me into oblivion.

Still, I was glad she cared. I wanted to ask her about everything that she knew about my dad, whether or not she knew that he was a merwalker. I knew that would be a conversation with a lot of waterworks and I wasn’t prepared to do that in front of Neptune.

“Mom?” I said into the phone, when she finished her rant. “I love you.”

There was a long pause. “I love you too, Tara. Call me when you make arrangements to come home.”

I closed my eyes, wiping tears away as I hung up the phone. “That could have gone worse,” I said to Neptune.

“I guess I should take that as your two weeks’ notice,” Neptune said, who had obviously heard every word that was shouted at me.

I winced. “Yes.” There was no way my mother would let me continue performing with the group. I leaned back in the car seat. “Thank you,” I added.

“It’s the least I could do for you releasing that dolphin,” he said.

I blinked at him. “How did you know about the mermaids?” I asked.

He considered his answer so long, I thought he wasn’t going to answer the question. Finally, he sighed, shifted in his seat, and said, “That’s a long story.”

“I’d like to hear it,” I insisted. “Please.”

He gave a short chuckle. “Figgered you would. You know that I was a fisherman in my youth, right?”

I nodded.

“It was Hurricane Frederic back in 1979—a mother of a hurricane if there ever was one. I was holed up on my ship with my crew trying to wait out the storm. The seas were angry that night.” He shuddered. “I ain’t ever thrown up like I did back then. You get tossed and thrown like nothing you ever seen. So we were waiting it out when I heard this huge screech and scraping. I looked out the window and saw that one of our fish holds had broken loose and was just sliding around on the deck. There’s lots of money are in each of those holds, so I went out trying to secure it...” He hissed in air through his teeth. I could guess what happened next.

“I was blown off deck. Like an ant. Mother Nature is a strong bitch.” He chuckled at his own joke. “I landed in the water, sure that I was going to drown and become fish food. Almost did. Until this gorgeous creature, the likes of which I’d never seen before grabs me and pulls me back up to the surface. The fins of a fish with the body of a woman. She was...beautiful,” he breathed. “She pulls me to shore, amidst the waves and braving the worst of the hurricane to save me. She made sure that I didn’t drown. At first, I thought I was dead. Dreaming. Saved my life, she did.”

He stopped, giving her a moment of silence. “I owe everything to her.”

It was then that I had realized that Neptune had fallen in love with this mermaid that had saved him. Their meeting, however brief, was enough for him to pine after her all these years. No wonder there wasn’t a Mrs. Neptune, his heart had been taken by someone who couldn’t be with him. I briefly entertained the idea of him becoming a merwalker, but I didn’t want to bring it up. I got the feeling that if that option had been made to him, he would have accepted it without any hesitation.